After starting off somewhat middling- I’m about 2/3 of the way through my middle semester in uni, it is what it is- I was finally feeling a little smug about getting assignment work started early. I have six assignments due in the space of two weeks and I tend to fly pretty close to the deadline. For the first time since I’ve been in education I had started on three of ’em and was pretty proud of myself.

Then BOOM. I went home, tipped my bag out and my USB drive- the device upon which my life depended- was gone. I spent a full evening and the following day checking everywhere: the security office, every classroom I’d been in, every reception desk in Caley Uni- which is a lot- and even walked up and down my route to the train. I’d done a dramatic sweep of all the crap off of my bedside table and achieved an awesome sense of drama, but not much else.

In the meantime, I was also getting a bunch of job rejections, which sucked. Since finishing up at the film festival I’ve been looking for something, anything, that I can fit around uni for at least the next couple of weeks. Dissertation term doesn’t count, obviously, that’s like free time. I didn’t have a whole lot else to do with my time since I couldn’t exactly go out spending money. Plus the weather was shit.

Underwhelming eclipse photo.

It took a full couple of days of walking around in a grey cloud- in my mind and, y’know, the weather- before the sun broke. Walking around feeling crappy wasn’t making me feel any better. It just made me feel more crappy. Moaning about my lost USB wasn’t going to get any more work done. I looked at how much work I had lost, and it was nowhere near as much as I thought. I was a week behind at the most. I got a call for a job interview. Not such a bad humpday after all.

Slightly more whelming eclipse photo.

Then, today, there was an eclipse, and that was kind of cool. It was officially the first day of spring. After a long ass winter, it was nice to feel some warm sunshine and not that lying bastard winter sun that just makes driving hard. Then, out of nowhere, I got a phone call from uni saying my lost USB had been retrieved. I’m not one for getting all deep and writing down feelings, but it’s always nice to end on a high note. There’s definitely a shift in the air. Plus once it gets heavy into spring, I can crack out my pastel lilac skinny jeans again, they’re just not a valid winter option. Happy Friday!

When I first started this blog, I threw myself into it much in the same way as I did veganism: headfirst and with aplomb. I was super smug with myself when I posted more than one article per week. Even though I was working full time, I still found time to write. Armed with determination, I was convinced I wouldn’t abandon this blog like I had so many others.

Cut to a few months later and… yeah. Not so frequent with the blogging. To be fair, alot’s changed in that time. I had planned on writing a big catch up post, but sitting thinking about how much has happened is giving me crampy fingers already.

I’ve started a new job, which is pretty sweet. I spent alot of last year ‘in between jobs’, and when I did work it was in sound production. I really didn’t enjoy it, and dreamed of doing something more… well, I hate to lazily toss in ‘creative’, but yeah. I was lucky that my current job started a mere week after my last one, so I had a cheeky week of downtime then it was back to it again. Since my work is in the back of beyond, in deepest Ayrshire. I’m now a car owner- it only took me six months after passing my test…!

My other big change was getting accepted into uni. My last course didn’t qualify me for much apart from working in technical film production, so after months of endless failed applications I figured I would give education another bash. As of next week I’ll be studying for the MA Creative and Cultural Business at Glasgow Caledonian uni and, even better, I can still work around it.

Since losing our old dog Eddie last year, the house has been a bit empty. Without the sound of tippy tappy feet creeping about looking for cuddles and treats it just felt like there was a huge void. Not anymore! We adopted another lhasa apso in the form of Lemmy, and he’s settled in like he’s always been here. There’s something about having a pet that brings so much happiness and energy to a house. Plus, they’re pretty much the best little confidantes.

Blogging has been great for getting into writing again, and so have my posts for Scotcampus. However, my dreams of being an actual, publish writer were actualised with the creation of IN BLOOM- a creative snapshot of youth culture in Glasgow and beyond. It’s quite surreal seeing my name in real, physical print. I’ve been showing off my copy to anyone who’ll listen- I’ve never spellchecked anything so thoroughly in my life and I’m actually pretty proud of it. You can support local culture and read more about it here!

May or may not have signed a copy at the SWG3 launch party and left it lying. Clue: may have.

Last month the boy and I also went to see a pretty awesome/heartbreaking piece of film at favourite vegan haunt, Stereo. The Ghosts in Our Machine documents photographer Jo-Ann McArthur and her gut-wrenching journey as she exposes the animal face behind the food and entertainment industries. It was a pretty difficult watch, but not as in-your-face traumatic as alot of animal rights films. There are plenty of beautiful scenes as Joanne visits a friend who runs a farm sanctuary, rescuing animals deemed unfit for ‘purpose’ and giving them a chance at a life. If you’ve never seen an animal rights film, this is a really great, accessible start.

Stereo also put on a free buffet, which was pretty amazing. I’ve never seen people dive upon a table of food so fast- well seeing we’re never really given that much of an option!

There was also a really engaging Q&A afterwards with director Liz Marshall, which made the film’s impact more hard hitting and tangible.

Sooo… I think that’s me pretty much caught up (on everything that I can remember for now, anyway!). In between everything else I’ve also been cooking ALOT. The beauty of my work being pretty far out from anything convenient means that I’m making more of an effort to make proper dinners and take leftovers for lunch. I’ve also been working hard to perfect the recipe for vegan macaroni cheese. It’s been a hard slog delicious mission so far and I reckon I’ve just about cracked it. Now I’m all about tarting it up- after all, the best part of mastering a basic recipe is breaking the rules and chucking in whatever takes your fancy. Especially now we’re fast approaching autumn- my FAVOURITE season. Perfect time for stodgy comfort food to keep out the chill!

I’ve got into full on rambling mode now, so I’ll wrap it up here. Here’s some foodie type pictures, because they’ve been clogging up my phone and I need to delete them so I can refill it with doggy photo spam. If I can remember the recipes, I’ll post them soon. And definitely not leave it so long in between blogs again!

So it’s been quiet on the blogging front for me lately, although with good cause: I’m finishing up in work this week and there’s a chaotic push to get everything done. I’ve been working with a visual arts charity, making short films, writing blogs, helping to manage social media and, apparently, not bothering to organise the mountains of material I have into date order. Blarg.

I’m only on a four month contract so I’ve also been frantically applying for jobs in my spare time- I know, the fun never ends, right? I’ve written various drafts of cover letters so frequently that I’m worried I’ll start sleepwalking and reciting them aloud like a modern day postgraduate somnambulist.

In between all of that I’ve also been doing some guest writing (keep your ears to the ground for the launch of IN BLOOM– it’s gonna be pretty special, and I’m not just saying that through bias) and taking a week off work unexpectedly to do nothing but paint my garden fence and attempt jogging. I know that taking a week off seems counteractive to all of the everything that needs doing, but I had the days to use up and I was pretty much told to take it. Fair ‘nuff.

So, what to do for fun in between times? Well, catch up with pals and get a good scran and chat in over a cider or two. While many of Glasgow’s new restaurants are including more and more non-meaty options, the choice of all-vegan or vegetarian joints is still pretty thin on the ground. Presumably because everyone’s losing their shit over burgers and pulled pork. Hey, I’m not judging, after our trip to Stereo I even offered to accompany the boy to one of yon burger places. As long as their chips and side salad are OK, that is.

In any case, finding somewhere I can peruse an entire menu without fear is always a relief. In fact, it’s downright overwhelming. I’m so terrible at making decisions that even when I go somewhere like this, I will inevitably end up ordering a burger of sorts. On the many occasions I’ve visited The 13th Note before, I’ve went straight for sweet falafel-y goodness because I know I like it.

But on this particular occasion, I was feeling bold. I’d had a good day in work, successfully bagged a funding application and was having a decent hair day. You could hear the 70’s funk soundtrack playing behind me as I strutted… well, around the corner from my work in the Trongate round to the Note. I figured that if I was going to stray from my usual dinner choices, this would be the place to do it- at least they would do it well.

This image has nothing to do with the rest of the post, except that I’d taken it on a stroll around Glasgow Green and kinda liked it.

After being presented with a shiny new menu, I was faced with an important decision- almost too many. Our poor waitress didn’t get an order out of me until her third trip over to our table. My self-imposed burger ban had me scanning frantically for anything else that I knew I liked. I like trying new things and all, but baby steps- I like a little something familiar. In lieu of falafel, I went for a twist on that other standard veggie staple- risotto.

However, this wasn’t just risotto, it was lemongrass and gingerrisotto cakes with a Thai green curry sauce. I’m never sure if I like Thai green curry- it’s a bit too fragrant and watery for me, and not nearly punchy enough. I needn’t have worried- this was properly creamy, without being heavy, and it worked really well with the delicate flavours of the risotto cakes. The cakes were pretty big too and- Hallelujah chorus- there was more than enough sauce to cover them. I didn’t even have to add any from the table, or ask for any extra.

In fact, it also came with an enormous flatbread- which at first I didn’t eat because I thought it was a napkin, oops- which I used to mop up the saucy remains. Classy, right. The good thing about the Note is that there’s no sort of pretence, it’s authentically grungey without being made to look like it was styled that way (i.e. it doesn’t look like a G1 attempt at a grunge bar)- therefore it’s perfectly OK to use a flatbread as both a tortilla and sauce scooper. Judgeth me not.

The portion size was enough that I felt full without being overloaded, as is often the case with a burger- usually in part due to the roll, coupled with chips, combined with deep carb-laden regret. Probably helped that it was a gluten-free option, too. I still didn’t have room for a pudding, but I didn’t feel so full that I should be asking bus passengers to give up their seats for me.

For the wary, put your minds at ease- the menu clearly states that all items are vegan, except those marked ‘vegetarian’, and all vegan and non-vegan items are stored and prepared separately. While I’m not overly fussed about that kind of cross-contamination, a lot of people are, and I dug that they made a point of saying so.

The whole experience reinforced again to me that changing lifestyle is all about trying new things, and opening up to new tastes and experiences. For me, I like new things as long as there’s a little bit of assurance. A safety net, if you will. But baby steps are better than no steps at all. Vegan or vegetarian diets shouldn’t just be about “eating the same but replacing the meat”- although don’t get me wrong, I still do that if I’m feeling lazy. It’s about seeing what you like outwith the usual. Otherwise, what’s the point?

For the size of it, this was a pretty bargainous find too- my dinner clocked in at a wallet friendly £7.75, which was very welcome mid-month. I’m already looking forward to trying out the rest- maybe on a Saturday so I can partake in a soya milk White Russian too. At time of writing it’s the only place I’ve found one so far, but I’d be more than willing to be proved wrong…

I hate saying that I’ve ‘been too busy’ to do anything. It always comes across as self-important. However, I’ve been kept steadily busy this past week with various gigs and things, that I’ve had little turnaround time in between.

May has been utterly ridiculous with the amount of events that are going on around Glasgow: I’ve already been to see The Libertine at the Citizen’s Theatre, Clutch at the ABC and yesterday had a double bill: the matinee of Wicked at the King’s Theatre, followed by Courtney Love at night time. Not including full time work and other life ‘hings in between.

I feel like I’ve been a bit of a fraud this week as I haven’t given much thought to cooking anything- aside from my avocado cheese pasta concoction, that is. I’ve been mostly running off of soup, toast and other easy-to-throw-together things. We did pretty well with our fruit haul at the weekend, which obviously meant I could have something chocolatey. Unfortunately, vegan chocolate is… well, it doesn’t really taste like chocolate at all. Unless you mean the cooking variety. Lindt 70% has been an utter hero in such times of confectionary crisis and womanly woe.

The plan yesterday was to go and get a nice dinner somewhere, and explore Glasgow’s many veggie-friendly options but we didn’t have much turnaround time in between shows. We decided a beer ‘n burger deal was our safest, and quickest, bet and stopped by Rufus T’s. After getting shafted over £7 for theatre wine, I was in the mood for something cheap and cheerful, and wasn’t disappointed. Making my veggie melt sandwich vegan was as easy as saying “hold the cheese”. Almost feels like a cheat, really…

I feel like I need a total kitchen restock in order to start getting into cooking properly again. Sadly mid-month, especially one which is so event heavy, is never an easy time for that. Handily I got an Amazon bargain in the form of the The DailyVegan Planner. It’s a 12-week, day by day journal, which allows you to keep track of what you made and ate, and also how you felt about it. It seems like a really good way of staying on track, and marking any changes in health or whatnot. It’s also got a tonne of recipes and a list of about 250 vegan friendly foodstuffs… seems fairly foolproof to me!

It’s a good thing to invest in, as well as the other books and downloaded recipes I’ve collected so far: one thing I’ve learned quickly is the importance of variety. I never thought I would say this, but I think I’m actually getting bored of soup…! Or if not bored of it, then definitely looking to out it on hiatus for a while. I always thought the third week would be pretty hard going, and I wasn’t wrong: the first week’s shiny new-ness is over, week two of casually finding my stride is done with. Unfortunately for me I’ve got half a pot of the spicy sweet potato soup taking up space in my already tiny freezer… guess I’ll be putting that hiatus on hold for a while first.

Still, the best thing to do is keep going, and not allow myself to get lazy. If I do, I’m worried that soup and I may just part ways for good.

I’ll be honest, as much as I hadn’t found the vegan challenge too hard so far, I was dreading this weekend. I usually eat fairly healthily during the week (…ish), but would usually allow myself the weekend off if I wanted. Cooked breakfasts, takeaways, hangover comfort foods- usually involving copious amounts of chocolate and carbs- were all order of the day. It’s easy enough to impose restraint with a working schedule in place, but I was a little apprehensive about coping without it.

I was feeling a little guilty for ditching exercise on Thursday to go hang out with the boy, but after nodding off on the bus home and feeling like I’d never catch up on my sleep deficit, I felt it was justified. After work (and a couple of post-work drinks) I couldn’t really be bothered actually cooking, but thankfully managed to knock together something reasonably healthy from ready meals (I know, right?). They’re not something I tend to eat a lot of, but I figured a vegan option was better than most.

I mixed falafel with butternut squash and bulgar wheat, even chucking in some extra peppers and vegetables to ease myself of nasty ready meal guilt. All in all, not too bad an effort, considering my lack of effort. The boy’s made a garlic baguette which was eyeing me seductively, but I managed to banish it by concentrating really hard on an episode of Fringe.

If there’s one thing I’ve found so far, it’s that I’m definitely eating way more fruit and vegetables now. I always made some effort before, but always felt slightly embarrassed when people assumed I was a healthy eater.

“So you must eat really well being a vegetarian, right? Do you eat like salads and pulses and seeds and things?”

“Umm, my favourite kind of salad is potato”

Determination to keep on track strengthened my decision to get the last bus home on Saturday night and bypass all manner of delicious fast food outlets- well, determination and the all-too-recent memories of last week’s Bank Holiday spent in a realm of pain and nausea.

I woke up bright and early on Sunday, eager to make up for my Thursday night laziness. I’ll say one thing though- two classes back to back would’ve been killer for me before, but even worse with a mere nakd bar as my morning’s fuel. Cue a surge of adrenaline followed by extreme pain and severe overestimation of my abilities.

I’m still not one for ‘gym selfies’ and ‘progress pics’, but I wanted proof that I’d actually made it there on a Sunday. No one who knows me would probably believe it.

I did manage the impossible task though- I made it through a visit to my nan’s, diet unscathed. To put it into context, it’s nearly impossible to leave my nan’s house without being fed. I’m pretty sure it was easier to leave East Germany to smuggle information to the west. If you’re offered a ‘wee biscuit’, you will be presented with a tin full of Kit Kat Chunkies. Tempting, yes, but I’d also spent the extra pennies and effort to pick up rye bread (mmm, chewy) and monkey-friendly peanut butter, and I was determined it was getting used.

Due to my complete lack of awareness for portion control, I’d also made too much of my tofu and bean salad from Thursday, which when smooshed in with some mixed grains was a pretty filling dinner. All the different ingredients made it really nice and colourful, and leaving it in the fridge for two days meant all the flavours had marinated into the tofu: disguised the really weird smoked taste really well, plus it looked super pretty (not that you could tell from my picture).

I’m also hoping my food photography will improve, as this was really lovely and colourful, but I just wanted to eat it, hence the slightly crap picture.

All in all it’s been a relatively pain-free transition so far: my biggest complaint has been the initial outlay of money. Eating fresh means things go off quickly, so I feel like I’m constantly buying extra wee bits. I also felt really bloated and uncomfortable from the sudden onslaught of fruit, vegetables and grains. Keeping up with exercise helped, and I’m sure it’s just my body realising that it’s not as accustomed to healthy foods as I originally thought… at the very least it’s made me more conscious of checking ingredients for signs of crap, and that can only be a good thing! My boyfriend also thoughtfully bought me a vegetarian cookbook (there weren’t any vegan ones to be found), so at least I’ve got some more ideas should I get sick of grains ‘n curds.

One final note: vegan smoked cheese has the consistency of a plastic block and tastes like sick. I’m now on the lookout for a suitable replacement as no amount of determination and lying to myself can hide the fact that it is utterly rank.